Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

International Court Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant; Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro Indicted Over Alleged Coup Plot; Trump Taps Pam Bondi as Attorney General After Gaetz Withdraws; Sexual Assault Claim Threatens Defense Pick Hegseth; Russia Hit Ukraine with New Ballistic Missile. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 22, 2024 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Israel will not recognize the validity of this decision.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's committed many crimes against the Palestinian people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump has a new choice for U.S. Attorney General.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know a Republican in the country who doesn't love Pam Bondi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's use of a new mid-range ballistic missile is a, quote, severe escalation.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Our crazy neighbor has once again shown who he really is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Friday, November the 22nd, 9 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Jerusalem, where there's outrage over the arrest warrants issued for Israel's prime minister and former defense minister.

Key countries in Europe, the Middle East, even Canada, all agreeing to comply with the International Criminal Court's ruling, which would mean arresting Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant if, given the opportunity. The ICC has accused them of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starvation as a method of warfare and murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. The Israeli prime minister calls allegations absurd and anti-Semitic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The truth is simple. No war is more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza after Hamas attacked us unprovoked, launching the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Israel does not, Israel will not recognize the validity of this decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Israel is not a member of the ICC, nor is the U.S., which has come to the Israeli leader's defense pretty ferociously. But 124 other countries are. CNN's Eleni Giokos following all of this for us.

Eleni, you know, to say that he won't comply with it, it's not really in his power, is it? Because if he comes to a European country, it's been pretty clear from the officials we've heard from so far that, you know, they feel a duty, a commitment to arrest him.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And it all comes to these countries complying. 124 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute do have an obligation.

And we've actually seen other countries not doing so when it comes to any leader that has faced these kinds of arrest warrants. I mean, it basically puts Netanyahu in the unsavory group of the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir. And it's quite interesting to note that South Africa didn't arrest Omar al-Bashir in 2015, even though South Africa is part of the Rome Statute.

Mongolia didn't arrest Vladimir Putin earlier this year. So again, it comes down to this type of commitment. Now, interestingly, the ICC had floated the idea of these arrest warrants back in May. Then Israel came out challenging the ICC based on jurisdiction. The ICC said that that was a premature challenge, leaving the door open for now Israel responding again. But at the end of the day, it does come down to compliance.

You mentioned these crimes and war crimes against humanity. These are very vital. This is very serious. It does put Netanyahu in a very unsavory group. Yoav Gallant also faces these charges as well. And so do Hamas leadership.

Now, Mohammed Deif is on that list as well. The IDF says that he was killed earlier this year, as well as two other Hamas leaders. And really coming out with very strong condemnation.

I mean, we've heard from Netanyahu calling this anti-Semitic, talking about the ICC as being politically biased and discriminatory. The U.S. that is not a signatory does mean that Netanyahu and Gallant will be able to travel to the United States. So that is one thing that I guess does create some kind of buffer.

But also importantly, when you see the Netherlands, the likes of Canada, Italy, as well as France saying they are going to comply, it does make Netanyahu's life and world a lot smaller.

FOSTER: One of the issues that President Biden has spoken to as well, that there's this idea of equivalence between Israel and Hamas, because obviously the lead, one of the leaders of Hamas currently as well, is also being subjected to similar things, I think.

[04:05:03]

And that's the big concern amongst Israelis and Americans right now.

GIOKOS: It absolutely is. And in fact, the Israeli prime minister says that the Israeli response basically to what we've been seeing in Gaza is because of the brutal attacks on October 7th. And you've got to remember that we've even been covering the story for over the past year in terms of how much humanitarian aid has been going into Gaza that is part of the charge using starvation as a method of warfare.

There are a lot of other questions around breaking international law, which has been in discussion and frankly been flagged by many humanitarian organizations for quite some time. And this is the ICC's international response to a lot of what we've been seeing over the past year. Again, seeing the Hamas leadership part of the charges as well is quite important. But the timing obviously has been flagged by the United States as well as Israel.

I also want to refer to the major reaction that we've been seeing. Josep Borrell, which is the vice president of the EU Commission, says that he hopes that member states are going to be complying and committed to the ICC's decision.

The Palestinian Authority says that the decision now restores hope and confidence in international law. Max, I want you to take a listen to what Palestinians are saying after these arrest warrants were issued.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is a great decision, but by God's grace, it's implemented. And Netanyahu faces the darkest day as he's committed many crimes against the Palestinian people. He's killed our children, destroyed our homes, our women and our children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This decision has come very late. Today, Netanyahu is dealing with the Gaza Strip with complete barbarism and terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, and it's no surprise they're hearing this reaction from the Palestinian side. Netanyahu supporters obviously view this in a very different way. Take a listen, Max.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YAFIT BARUCH, SUPPORTER OF ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: An arrest warrant against our prime minister? The only person in the Middle East that's really leading to fight terror, to demolish terror. That's what you're doing? I can't believe it.

We're not going to let you guys have your hands on him. Not going to happen. And second, wait a couple of months until Trump gets on board, and then we'll see what you have to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: On the Trump issue, which was quite an interesting comment, Donald Trump's pick for national security advisor, Mike Waltz, has said that the U.S. will be taking action against the ICC as well as the United Nations once they get into the administration, which is a very interesting move. And this, of course, is quite significant because we don't know what will happen in the next two months. You've got to remember, it does leave the door open for Israel to challenge the ICC's decision.

We don't know what will play out in the next few weeks. But importantly, Max, this does come down to compliance. So one thing that could happen is that any country that has said that they will comply, Netanyahu will be flagged on this point, knowing that if he does risk travel to any country that is signed up to the Rome Statute, that he could be handed over to the ICC.

FOSTER: Yes, that would be quite a moment, wouldn't it? Eleni, thank you so much for joining us from Dubai.

A different indictment in Brazil with the country's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, faced his allegations in connection to an alleged plot to kill his successor. CNN Brazil reports Bolsonaro had full knowledge of a plan to prevent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after his election victory in 2022. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The indictment of former president Jair Bolsonaro is rocking Brazilian politics this week. The prosecutors have indicted the right wing leader on Thursday on charges including attempting a coup d'etat, criminal organization and the violent suppression of the rule of law.

Bolsonaro, who lost the 2022 presidential election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has always denied these charges, but it's the third time that the former president has been indicted.

According to our affiliate CNN Brazil, the federal police alleged that Bolsonaro had full knowledge of a plot to prevent Lula and his government to take office in January 2023 and that that plot included even plans to kill Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and the Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

The prosecutors have presented their final investigation report, which is hundreds of pages long, to the Supreme Court in Brasilia.

[04:10:00] It will now be a decision for the Brazil's attorney general to rule whether to present formal charges against Bolsonaro and essentially put him on to trial. If we were to go on to a trial, it would likely take place next year. But this scandal is already making headlines today.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, it didn't take long for Donald Trump to come up with a new pick for attorney general after his first choice backed out. The U.S. president-elect has asked former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to fill the post. The longtime Trump supporter recently helped lead the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute, a right- leaning think tank.

Trump allies and advisers are said to be coalescing quickly around Bondi. Trump's first pick, former congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration, saying he was unfairly becoming a distraction. The former congressman has denied persistent accusations that he paid a 17-year-old girl for sex.

A source tells CNN Trump called Gaetz on Thursday morning to tell him he didn't have the votes to win Senate confirmation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Did you have concerns about political capital being expended here?

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I did, and I think that was the case that was made, to be honest. I mean, simple math, I think, was made clear that there's not a path. And if there's not a path, you just spend a lot of political capital for a losing cause. And it wouldn't have been worth it.

I know enough people that were a hell no in the conference to know that the path would have been very, very difficult, if possible, and I doubt it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Analysts say they think Bondi will have a much easier path to Senate confirmation than Gaetz. Let's take a listen to CNN's senior political commentators, Scott Jennings and David Axelrod.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is a massive upgrade. I've talked to a couple people up on the Hill already. There's a sigh of relief that now we have somebody here, two term AG, strong record on drug enforcement and opioid issues, a total hawk on immigration, politically supportive of Trump, obviously.

I don't know a Republican in the country who doesn't love Pam Bondi. So you were starting with Gaetz, a nominee who was underwater significantly to start and was going to always be hard to get to the surface.

With Bondi I do think you're starting above water. And as long as she performs in her hearings. I mean, look, this is somebody who's been through two elections in a really big state. And so a lot of public vetting of her has gone on already. So I think this is a great move by Trump to be pragmatic and tell Gaetz to get out.

And a really good move to go with Bondi. This is not a shaky limb. This is a sturdy branch he's going with for AG here.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He gets in her what he wants, which is he wants someone who will be responsive to him first, not the duties of the attorney general or the Constitution. He wants to have political control over the Justice Department. And she, to Scott's point, I think she's fully, fully willing, able and capable of doing that, of putting a political functionary who he trusts in that office.

Now, whether the rest of the country feels comfortable about that, whether the senators do, we'll see. It is a very I think it's a very daunting proposition for those who care about the integrity of the Justice Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, we're learning new details about the sexual assault allegations against Trump's pick to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. A warning this report from CNN's Kyung Lah contains some graphic content.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE: We welcome the opportunity to talk to any senator that wants to talk to us.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-Elect Donald Trump's pick for Defense secretary on Capitol Hill, speaking on camera for the first time about a sexual assault allegation.

HEGSETH: I'll keep this very simple. The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared. And that's where I'm going to leave it.

LAH (voice-over): A newly-released 22-page police report from Monterey, California doesn't clear Pete Hegseth, though prosecutors did not file charges. But it does add much more detail to the allegations that surfaced last week and threatens to jeopardize Hegseth's nomination.

The report lays out very different stories of what happened at this Hyatt Hotel in the early morning hours of October 8, 2017.

Hegseth was the keynote speaker at a California Federation of Republican Women event. After it ended, the woman called Jane Doe in the police report, texted someone: I'm headed to the bar with other women from the group.

One of the conference attendees told police Hegseth touched her knee. The woman asked Jane Doe to help her to be a crotch blocker trying to stop Hegseth. From there Jane Doe's memory, she told police, becomes hazy.

The police report states she believes that something may have been slipped into her drink, though the report doesn't have medical evidence for the claim.

After the bar closed, surveillance video captured Hegseth and Jane Doe heading towards the pool walking together, arms locked together. Guests complained to the hotel that they were being loud.

A hotel worker described Hegseth as very intoxicated, but Jane Doe appeared very coherent.

[04:15:02]

She told police she didn't know how she got into Hegseth room, but that he took her phone and blocked the door with his body. When she tried to leave, she recalls saying "no" a lot.

Jane then remembers Hegseth over her, his dog tags hovering over her face. He ejaculated on her stomach, threw a towel at her, and asked, are you OK?

Jane Doe's memory started to return in the days after. She went to the hospital, where she requested a sexual assault exam and then spoke with police.

Hegseth told police what happened at the Hyatt was consensual. Hegseth says Jane Doe didn't want to leave his room, saying there was always conversation and always consensual contact. Hegseth told police Jane Doe showed early signs of regret.

Hegseth's lawyer tells CNN this police report confirms what I've said all along that this incident was fully investigated, no charges were filed.

LAH: Hegseth's attorney also tells CNN that the woman was paid as part of a settlement account and that there is a confidentiality clause as part of that deal.

Now, last week I did speak and meet briefly with the victim. She is not being identified by CNN because she is the alleged victim of a sexual assault. But at the very mention of Hegseth's name, she became she became visibly distraught. She says needed to reach out to her attorney, that she didn't know what she was allowed to say. She has not replied to subsequent follow ups for a request for an interview.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News. FOSTER: A sixth tourist has died of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos. That's linked to tainted alcohol in the city of Vang Vieng, known as a backpacker hotspot. Earlier, Australian authorities confirmed the death of 19-year-old Bianca Jones. And now we're getting word her traveling companion, Holly Bowles, has also died after being in critical condition in a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bowles' family confirmed her death to CNN affiliate 7 News, saying, It is with broken hearts and we are so sad to say that our beautiful girl, Holly, is now at peace.

The women had been airlifted out of Laos after becoming ill during a night out. U.S. and U.K. authorities also confirmed the deaths of citizens on Thursday. Methanol is typically used as a cleaning fluid, but is sometimes illegally added to alcohol to increase volume.

Now, another Trump cabinet pick is facing serious legal trouble. I will tell you about the lawsuit against former wrestling mogul Linda McMahon just ahead.

And the dire warning from Ukraine's president after Russia launches a new ballistic missile. We'll have the latest developments next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

FOSTER: Now in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin says Russia launched a new mid-range ballistic missile on Ukraine's Dnipro region on Thursday. The Ukrainian military earlier claimed the weapon was an intercontinental ballistic missile, a development that raised alarm in the West.

The attack came after Ukraine fired longer-range American missiles into Russia for the first time this week, according to Russia's defense ministry and two U.S. officials. Now CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The moment one of Russia's newest missiles dropped its payload on one of Ukraine's largest cities. Several sub-warheads impacting in Dnipro, apparently not fully laden with explosives, causing no explosions on the ground, but aiming to deliver a strong message from the Russian leader.

In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was also tested. In this case, with a ballistic missile in non-nuclear hypersonic equipment. Our missile men call it Oreshnik.

The Ukrainians exclusively sharing these photos of the missile debris with CNN. Kyiv saying the speed, trajectory and impact of the rocket bore the hallmarks of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying thermonuclear warheads, although Western officials say it was not an ICBM. Today, our crazy neighbor once again showed what he really is and how

he despises dignity, freedom and people's lives in general, Ukraine's president said.

Russia's strike comes only a day after Ukraine for the first time used U.S.-supplied ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles against targets inside Russia.

PLEITGEN: Vladimir Putin says that the Russians used this new intermediate-range ballistic missile as a direct response to the Ukrainians hitting targets deep inside Russia using longer-range weapons provided by the United States and the United Kingdom.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Ukrainians say Russia's new missile was launched from the Astrakhan area of Russia near the Caspian Sea. Russia has test-launched ICBMs from there in the past.

Russian officials refusing to comment most of the day, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman even getting an apparent order to remain silent during her press briefing.

ZAKHAROVA, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN (through translated text): Yes. I'm having a briefing.

CALLER (through translated text): On Yuzhmash and the ballistic rockets, about which the Westerners started talking about, we are not commenting at all.

ZAKHAROVA (through translated text): Yes, OK. Thank you.

PLEITGEN: She later said the caller only clarified a topic for her press conference.

On the ground in Dnipro, the damage from the new weapon seemed minimal, but Putin's message has been delivered. Russia is capable of unleashing much greater havoc on Ukraine and its Western allies if it chooses to do so.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Iran says it's activating new advanced centrifuges which enrich uranium for its nuclear programme. The decision comes after the U.N. nuclear watchdog criticized Iran for not cooperating for the agency. Iran says it's only protecting its interests and developing peaceful nuclear energy.

Injecting gas into centrifuges is part of a process to enrich uranium, which could ultimately be used to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has repeatedly denied it has any ambitions of building a bomb.

Gunmen opened fire on buses and cars carrying Shia Muslims in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 42 people and wounding 20 others, according to the Associated Press. At least 10 people were brought to hospital in critical condition. The attack took place in the Karam district, where clashes between Sunnis and Shiites have killed dozens in recent months. And it comes just a week after authorities reopened a highway that had been closed due to violence. No one has claimed responsibility so far.

A Mexican cartel leader has been arrested in the U.S. after allegedly faking his own death. The U.S. Justice Department says a Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa faces charges of money laundering and international drug trafficking. Officials say he assumed a fake identity and was living in a luxury apartment in California. He is the son-in-law of notorious drug kingpin El Mencho, who leads the Jalisco cartel, one of the world's most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations. U.S. officials say he helped Gutierrez-Ochoa escape to the U.S., and El Mencho was charged in 2022 with leading the effort to manufacture and distribute fentanyl into the U.S. He's not being arrested.

Just ahead, Chinese exporters are bracing for steep tariffs once Donald Trump takes office. How the country is preparing after the break.

[04:25:02]

Plus, we talk to ranchers and residents in the border state of Arizona, why they support the more aggressive immigration stance that President-elect Trump has promised.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us here are some of today's top stories.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with a separate warrant for a senior Hamas official accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7th attacks. Netanyahu says his country will not recognize the decision.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is amongst dozens indicted in a probe over an alleged coup following his 2022 election loss. Authorities say Bolsonaro had full knowledge of a plan to prevent his successor from taking office. Bolsonaro says he hadn't seen the indictment and will wait for his lawyer.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Pam Bondi for the country's top law enforcement job. The former Florida Attorney General is a Trump loyalist. The announcement came just hours after Trump's first pick Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration.

Donald Trump's pick for Education Secretary is being sued for allegedly enabling the sexual abuse of children. A lawsuit filed last month alleges Linda McMahon and her husband Vince, knowingly allowed the exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment employee as early as the 1980s. McMahon denies the allegations.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: It's a new lawsuit about something that happened decades ago and it does accuse Linda McMahon and her husband Vince McMahon and the WWE and its parent company of essentially allowing a pedophile to exist within their professional wrestling organization in the 1980s and prey upon underage boys who were being used at that time as ring boys.

So this dates back to the time when there was an announcer with the WWE, then the WWF, called Mel Phillips. And that man, he is now dead, but he is accused of abusing boys and having fetishes toward them. Something that even federal investigators ultimately ended up looking into.

But the big question here is what did Linda McMahon know when she was the CEO of the WWE? And when did she know it?

[04:30:00]

At some point in time in the late 80s, 1988, Linda and Vince McMahon, they fired Mel Phillips, and then they brought him back to the company about six months later.

And so now, because the state of Maryland has changed its laws about when you can bring child abuse lawsuits, there are anonymous former Ring Boys who are suing the McMahons, both of them, as well as the company, claiming that there was negligence there, that they and allowed this person, Mel Phillips, to continue to exist within the WWE.

Now, there are a lot of things left to happen in this court case. It is something that was filed just in October. But we already have a statement from the attorney for Linda McMahon. This is Laura Brevetti.

She said in a statement that the civil lawsuit is based upon 30 plus year old allegations and filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations regarding Linda McMahon, and that she will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit and without doubt, ultimately succeed.

Vince McMahon's lawyer has also put out a statement previously saying these allegations are false.

But it's raising questions at a moment when Linda McMahon is being picked by Donald Trump to be the secretary of the Department of Education, a department that has quite a lot to do with the welfare of children in the United States.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)